The Impossible Kid
by Wolfe Mollenkopf
Summary: In a small area of Vale known as Patch, tragedy struck a family. Now, a father has to deal with losing the one thing a parent should never have to lose...or so he thinks.
1. Chapter 1

_Two young girls walked down a dirt path, continuing their journey out into the woods. One of them headed towards the forest, blonde hair and pulling a little wagon carrying the second girl. The child in the wagon had dark hair like a raven's feather, 2 years younger than her older sister but both of them still very young. Too young to partake in such an adventure into the darkness that was the woods. However, these two children decided long ago the risk didn't outweigh the reward they were searching for. The treasure that was deemed worthy to risk their lives for?_

 _A mother's love._

 _Mostly though, it was just having the mother there. See, these two girls are only united halfway by their blood, given to them by their father. There was something else though that was used to fill in the gap to their sisterhood that was made by their two different mothers. The fact they both lost them. One, to the knowledge of the blonde, just… disappeared one day. She didn't know where she went, and every attempt to ask her dad for the answer led to a solemn change to his usual cheerful expression and a series of mumblings which could be added up to 'I don't know'. The younger sister's mother was called off to complete a mission and never returned. While both still believed that tomorrow will be the day she returns, every day that passes with the opposite result is another strike on their faith._

 _Today was a new day, with a new plan that was more proactive than mereing waiting by the door and hoping. The eldest sister told her sister that if her mother wasn't gonna find her way back home again, they will find her. The younger one, turning timid at the proposal, was hesitant to join her into the place their father warned them about more times than she could count. However, she also remembered being told they should never be alone in the woods either, and she didn't want her sister to do such a thing. So she agreed to join and the blonde child dragged her sister into the forest._

 _A long time has passed since the choice to leave was made, and they traveled a far way from home. The youngest one suggested that they turn around and get their father to join them. The blonde stopped walking and turned to face her._

" _Come on Ruby, you know if we turn back and ask dad he'll force us to stay home." she told her sister. "Don't you want to find my mom with me?"_

" _Of course I do Yang" said Ruby, now standing up in her wagon. "I'm just… I'm just getting scared." she said honestly, looking down towards the dirt trail they gone down longer than she thought they would._

" _There's nothing to be scared of, your big sister is here to protect you silly!" Yang assured her, voice full of pride as she points to her chest and grins. Looking at Yang and seeing her confidence in her ability to do so made Ruby feel better about herself, and she smiled softly._

" _I know you are, but I want to protect you too." she said, "We can protect each other, always and forever."_

 _Yang put her hand on her chin, stroking a non existent beard. "Hmm, alright. I'll protect you, and you'll protect me. Sounds good?"_

 _Ruby nodded her head. The sisters smiled at each other, both happy about their agreement when they hear something out into the trees. Both girls tense up in response, the younger one looking all around her as the eldest looks towards the sound. Looking out from the darkness, a pair of red eyes stares at the duo._

" _What was that, do you see anything?" Ruby spoke, panic present in her noise. Yang doesn't reply to her, staring back at the eyes scanning them. Frozen in fear, she doesn't make any noises or movements in hopes that the monster goes away. However, when the dark haired child spots the same pair of eyes, the response wasn't silence but a loud scream._

 _Everything that happened next was too fast to process. She saw the eyes charged towards them, revealing a giant, wolf like monster with bones on the outside of its body. Then it raised its arm and swung. Yang felt pain and weightlessness and when she realized the creature swung at them, she was already yards out from where they were. More importantly, she was yards out from Ruby. She watched the Grimm flailed its claws at something for a few seconds before someone sliced it in half._

 _By the time she recognized it was her uncle Qrow, he slaughtered both the initial monster and all the other members of its pack that was deeper into the forest. Yang stood back up, though her body ached from being tossed from the hit. She watched Qrow run towards where the first Grimm was before falling down on his knees and covered his face. As she continued making her way over towards him, she called out to him to which the girl noticed that her uncle was crying._

" _Please, don't come any closer!" he shouted at her, causing Yang to stop in her tracks._

 _Yang then looked around the area and saw that the wagon was broken, a wheel missing as well as the metal itself being clawed up. Suddenly, she realized something._

" _Where's Ruby?" she called out to her uncle, taking another step which caused Qrow to shout again._

" _Not a step closer Yang!" he ordered, his voice beginning to crack as he spoke again "You don't want to see this."_

 _Yang doesn't listen to him as he ran over to him. "What happened to Ruby?! Where is sh-" she yelled at him before she came too close and spotted her little sister. Or, what was left of her. Gasping, she then cried out her name as she ran closer before Qrow catching her. The man picked up the child and held her head into his chest tightly, to which the girl started to weep into as he tried to soothe her to no success._

"Taiyang, it's your turn to speak." Professor Port tells him softly, patting the man's shoulder which snaps him out of his trance. Tai looks back up at his friend, eyes bloodshot from previous tears shed as he pats the hand on his shoulder and nods. Port nods back and then walks back up to his seat.

As he walks up to the front, he takes in the scene that no parent should ever have to see. He looks around to see his friends and former classmates sitting in a line of chairs, each of them handling the heavy atmosphere in varying ways. Some are crying their eyes out while others are attempting to bury their emotions deep inside them, most of them however have found a middle ground that fits them.

Outside the sobbings, his remaining daughter being the loudest one of the group, it was mostly silent as he makes it to the front and stands next to a picture of Ruby smiling, the image being surrounded by a wreath covered in red roses. His heart break into more smaller pieces, a constant pattern he has been living through the past few days. After the pain being too much, he looks away from the wreath and looks back the casket, closed due to the… nature of the death.

As he clears his throat to speak, most of the people who were crying stopped to hear what he had to say. Only exception being Yang, who hasn't really stopped crying since the incident outside of when she falls asleep. The loudest coming from the morning when she wakes up and runs into Ruby's room, which makes her realize that what happened in the woods was something worse than a nightmare. After taking in a deep breath, Taiyang begins to speak.

"Before I can… begin to put what I'm feeling into words, I want to first say I'm grateful for everyone who showed up. This is one of the most difficult moments of my life and lowering this casket is going to be the most painful. So, with that in mind, I thank every single one of you for showing up so I don't have to do this alone. While I feel cursed after losing my daughter… seeing all of you here reminds me that I am blessed.

Now, for the hard part of this… For the past few days, I have thinking about this moment. The eulogy I would give to my own daughter. At first, I was debating whether to write something up or just speak from my heart, but after attempting to do the former, I had to come to terms that that task was impossible. Mainly because I haven't come fully to terms that this is even happening myself. How could I, or anyone?

Even now, looking at all of you now, I still can't believe this. It wasn't long ago where I was helping her get dressed or teaching her how to speak and walk… things I'll never hear or see her do again. I don't know if I will ever come to terms with this, or that that's even a possibility. Maybe I can't come to terms, and that what I feel now is just a part of who I am. This will just be my life now…"

Tai pauses to regain composure, as he turns to stare at the wreath. He looks at the picture one more time, He looks at her dark hair, pale skin, and silver eyes. All things she shared with Summer. As he turns to look at the casket, he thinks about another thing they share. Their absence from his life. Not looking to face the crowd of fellow grievers, he speaks up one last time.

"You know, for the first couple of nights, I couldn't dream of anything. My mind was just, too messed up from what happened I guess. I would just, go to bed and closes my eyes and when I opened them again it was a new day. Last night, I dreamt for the first time since I heard the news. I was out here, in this yard where we all are. And then… my little girl came back. She hugged my leg and told me how much she missed me and Yang and uncle Qrow, and about how she would never run off like that again. I kneel down to hug herself myself, telling her how much I missed her and how I would never leave her site… That's when I woke up to prepare for this funeral...

Last night I saw her again for the first time in my dreams, and now I'm just waiting to go asleep."

And with that final statement, Tai turns away from the the funeral and heads back into his house. After slamming the door Qrow takes a drink from his flask and moves towards the casket, preparing his turn to say his last words before he has to bury his niece.

Taiyang soon came back out to say his last goodbyes to Ruby and to help lower her to the grave, not saying anything to everyone else outside of thanking people to showing up and assuring them he will be fine. After everyone else heading back to their homes, what's left of the Rose-Xiao Long family go back into their cottage with Qrow joining them. Yang's crying have subsided to just soft weeping as Tai leans against his countertop, looking at the ground and saying nothing as Qrow sits down at the table and pulls out his flask.

Looking up, he glares at his former teammate "Are you _really_ drinking at a time like this?" he questions, which Qrow shrugs off.

"This is as an appropriate time to start drinking as any." he replies, taking another swig. Taiyang sighs, for that's a good point. If there's any time to pick up the habit, this is a reasonable one.

Qrow then lower the flask and places it on the table, sighing as well. "Look… If you want me to just… leave you be, I'll understand completely." he tells Tai, who moves off the counter he was leaning on and moves to sit with Qrow.

"What do you mean Qrow?"

"What if… what if this happened because of my semblance? What if the reason I wasn't there in time was because of th-" he starts off saying before he is stopped by Tai's hand landing on his shoulder, gripping it tight.

"Don't you dare, for even a second, blame yourself you Ruby's death. If it wasn't for you, I would've buried both of my children today. I won't hate you for Ruby's death, I thank you for Yang's life." Taiyang says, his tone stern but tender. Qrow stares into his ears, scanning him thoroughly before choosing what words to say. He doesn't get the chance to, because the recent silence that fell on the room disappears as soon as it showed up as they hear little feet walking towards the kitchen. They both look over to see Yang, her cheeks stained red from crying.

"Daddy, there's a knocking at the door… I think I heard-" Yang explains to her father while he gets up from his chair and heads towards the door, a pat on her head from him stopping Yang from continuing what she was telling her father.

"Don't worry sweetheart, I'll get it. Likely someone who missed the service." he assures her as he heads towards the door.

Making it to the door, he hears the sound of someone sobbing. "Looks like I was right.." he mumbles under his breath before he starts to open the door. "Sorry, but you just missed the service. You can still come…" he starts to say, attempting to offer an invitation into his home to whoever it was until he looks straight ahead to see nobody is there. He scans to the left and right to see if they could find whoever knocked on the door. The place he didn't search for the source of the noise however, was down at his feet.

Suddenly, he feels something cold surround his leg. He looks down to see what caused such a sudden chill to only have that chill start going down his spine as the color from his face vanishes from his horrified expression.

"Oh my god…" he mutters under his breath, his pupils dilated as his eyes widen at the unbelievable sight in front of him. Ruby hugging his leg tightly, crying.

"I'm s-sorry daddy, m-me and Yang w-went out into the woods e-even though you told us not to… W-we just wanted to find mom and then I f-forget what happened and then I was alone in the woods with Yang gone and I was so s-s-scared…" the impossible kid weeps to her dad, holding on to him even tighter as she continued talking. And he could _feel_ Ruby's grip tighten around him.

"Who was it da-" Yang walks over to him, then gasps at what she sees. Before heading any closer, Yang runs into the kitchen and shouts out "Qrow, Qrow! Come over here quick! Ruby's back!" Tai could hear her daughter shout as he continues to stare in shocked silence at his other daughter in front of him.

Taiyang falls to his knees in front of Ruby, to which she steps back as he falls before moving to hug her father around his neck. After a couple more seconds of being shook into motionlessness, he wraps his arms above her and places his head on the back of her head. He could feel her body press against his as he squeezes her, he could feel every strand of hair as when he ran his hand through when he palmed his hand to the back of her head. He could feel his body freeze from how cold Ruby's body was as his heart ached from how fast it was beating. This wasn't a hallucination nor a dream, whatever the man was going through was happening in real life.

"Now isn't the time to be saying things like this, kidd...oh my god…" Qrow starts out chastising for making up such a tale before looking over at Tai holding Ruby in his arms. For the next few minutes, the only sounds that could be heard from inside of home was Qrow falling his flask and Ruby and Tai both crying in front of an opened door.


	2. Chapter 2

Port walks out of the kitchen where Oobleck and Taiyang were discussing recent events and goes to sit on the couch, where in front of him Ruby is making a drawing that her father asked her to make. Sticking her tongue out to the side, she was finishing the final touches of her masterpiece by the time the man she happened to be drawing sat behind her. It was an epic piece of a muscular man fighting off creatures of Grimm, the amount of detail in them being surprising if you compared them to the man in the same drawing. For some reason, the images of the monsters are easier for her to draw in detail than the human anatomy, to which she shown to not understanding by giving Port 12 pack abs to go with his noodle arms.

Yang however wasn't next to her sister, but was peeking over at her in an uncharacteristically shy fashion from behind the couch. She watches as her sister finishes up her magnum opus to give to the older gentleman who she knew was one of daddy's friends. As of late, she hasn't really been interacting with Ruby in any capacity that's avoidable. Besides, why would Ruby want to speak to her anyways? She promised to protect her, and at the first chance she had to do so she…

She didn't killed Ruby, she couldn't have. She's over there right now handing Port her drawing right now, she's clearly alive. But what she saw in the forest of her sister, of what was left of her sister. Yang tenses up at the images resurfacing in her mind, and grips her tiny hands into a fist. Just remembering that night hurt. It hurt more than all the days she woke up to run into Ruby's room, hoping she would be there and she had just been in a nightmare, only to be proven otherwise. It hurt more than hearing her dad weep in the middle of the night when he thought Yang was asleep, apologizing to Summer in between sobs. It hurt to remember how she failed her sister.

The pain growing to be too much, Yang rushes into her room as fast as she could and slams the door. Both Port and Ruby notices it, but while moves to walk back into the kitchen with Tai and Oobleck, Ruby stands still for a short while until choosing to walk towards Yang's room.

* * *

Oobleck takes a sip out of his thermos and sits it down on the table in front of him, sighing as he rests his elbow on said table and starts pinching the bridge of his nose. After removing his hand from his face, he begins to speak.

"Now, I understand that if you told me about… _this_ over the phone I would be less concern about Ruby and more so about your mental health. But, a little bit of a warning about what's happening would be greatly appreciated next time Tai." the doctor stresses towards his blonde friend, his speaking pattern a fair amount slower than what would be expected from him.

Oobleck had some ideas in mind about why he was called by Tai to head over to Patch, given current circumstances with him. He thought maybe he needed someone to talk to to keep him sane. He thought that maybe he had questions about how to deal with Yang in the future, since watching her sister he ripped apart by Grimm would more than likely cause trauma that will affect her a good amount in the future. At worst, instead to keep Tai sane, he needed to talk to someone to keep him alive. While very much not like the man he has grown to know for so long, losing multiple wives and a child in less than a decade could even push the strongest of people near the edge.

What Bartholomew didn't expect when Tai opened the door was his dead daughter standing behind her father and saying hello, which in turn caused him to scream bloody murder and terrifying the poor girl. After being calmed down and profusely apologizing to a scared Ruby, he moved over towards the kitchen to talk about Tai's suddenly alive child. Port, however, needing more convincing so Tai asked Ruby to draw a picture for him and have Port watch so he can see the drawing being made in front of him and proving that, whatever she is, she's actually there.

"Sorry about that, I just… I didn't know how to explain it to you. I still don't know how to be completely honest with you." Taiyang starts off saying. Before he can get to his next sentence though, they both hear a door slam. Both Oobleck and Taiyang look towards the living room entrance for a second before Taiyang goes to speak again. However, before he can properly get a phrase out, Port walks into the kitchen and has something to say as well.

"First of all, apologies for not believing you about your daughter. You can understand my doubts, but at the end of the day a man needs to admit when he's wrong so I will. I was wrong to doubt you friend, and I'm sorry." Port says towards Tai, addressing his the same disbelief Oobleck shares, though he was more… reserved in his reaction than his hyper co-worker.

"Well, you don't need to apol-" Tai starts off saying before Port speaks up again.

"Secondly, your daughter really understands how to create art! Look at this, it's great." Port tells Tai as he shoves the drawing into his face. "She perfectly captures my physique, besides the arms of course. That needs some work, but every great visionary has to start somewhere!" he proclaims as Taiyang sighs deeply and Oobleck pinches the bridge of his nose once again.

"Port, the focus is not on my daughter's art. It's on my daughter herself. I'm glad you like the drawing and all... but don't forget _why_ I asked Ruby to draw that." he tells his porky friend. After nodding his head, he takes his seat at the table. After Port sits down, Tai begins speaking again. "So, you all have seen what I have been seeing the last 2 days. There's Ruby, like nothing ever happened to her. Now, would any of you have any possible idea on why that is? Any theories involving the dead coming back to life discussed among professors?" he inquires from two fellow professors.

Port looks at the once again father of two and simply shrugs his shoulders. "I don't really study and look into that type of stuff. Mainly new ways to kill Grimm." he told his friend honestly.

Tai looks over at Oobleck, whose adjusting his glasses as he hums. "Well, nothing historical I can think of sounds anything like this. Well… nothing universally recognized at least."

Now, that's an interesting way to phrase that. "'Nothing universally recognized'? So what are the less recognized beliefs that explains my daughter coming back to life?" Tai questions the spiked hair doctor.

"Well… the main one that some of the more… spiritual members of the community would say is that Ruby never came back to begin with." Oobleck answers as the father sighs.

"Do we need to go back to square one and prove she's real again? Because I know I'm not the only one seeing who, o-or what is in there" Taiyang says, pointing into the living room where Ruby was drawing earlier.

"That's unnecessary Tai, because I'm not implying that she isn't in there. Just that she's not _alive_ in there." he clarifies, as he gets a 'huh?' from the man in response. Oobleck proceeds to, once again, make it more clear as to what he's saying. "In some ancient beliefs in how the world works, some that even date back further than the two brothers, it was believed that our time on Remnant wasn't tied down from our physical form. That that was only a singular stage of our lives. After the death of the physical body, your spiritual life began. You would basically be an… apparition of sorts."

"A ghost. You think my daughter is a ghost? _You?_ " Taiyang asks his friend, eyebrow raised by his guest given how said beliefs he's talking about are ones that he never held for as long as they known each other. Of course, maybe seeing is believing.

"It's the only thing that seems to fit. No way her body could've healed from that attack, no matter how much aura she could have used. And even if she was healing, we would've known that and we wouldn't have buried her. However, the fact she remembers her past life and the people in it proves this isn't some random girl playing pretend." the doctor explains the thought process that led to this conclusion to the father as Port speaks up for the first time in a while.

"Then how can she hold crayons to draw or hug him? Wouldn't she just, gone through them and not actually made physical contact with?"

"The ability to go through physical objects in these beliefs have always been that, an ability. Something that they can do when needed, but not something that always happens. She could just, be choosing not to use it." Oobleck rationalizes before thinking up a more darker reason, one that causes a downcast look to sweep across his face like a storm cloud. "...or maybe she doesn't realize who she is now. Maybe, in her mind, she's still alive."

The storm of realization branches out across the room as the gravity of the implication sinks down onto them like Tai's heart just sunk for the first time since his daughter came back into his life.

Finally, after a period of silence, Taiyang speaks. "When she first came home, tears down her cheeks and hugging me, she talked about how… how Yang and her went into the woods and that she just, was left in there and got lost and scared… and talked about how she had to find her way home on her own. She never mentioned anything about Grimm, about Qrow saving them, nothing of the sort. It was like, that never happened to her." he recalls what happened before covering his mouth, trying to hold back tears before removing his hand to speak again after regaining composure. "I never thought that… I just thought that it was just too painful to talk about. That she just, wasn't ready to speak up about it. I should've known something was off, but I was just too busy trying to grasp my baby girl coming back to me…"

"But how is it that she came back when seemingly nobody else has before? Is it something to do with a semblance?" Port interjects as Oobleck shakes his head, running a hand through his spiky hair.

"No, that would change how we know semblances to be."

"This changes how we know _living_ to be Bart, who's to say that our knowledge of semblances are more grounded than our knowledge on the human life?"

"Because as I said, how living is viewed isn't universally accepted. The mortal life is only the beginning for some people. And with Ruby in mind, those people might be right."

"Okay, so why is it that the next part of Ruby's life involves her still being in the mortal world?" Tai questions this time.

"...maybe because her first part wasn't finished yet." he states, earning a couple of raised eyebrows from the group which makes the thin man explain in more detail. "In some ancient stories, a lot from faunus folklore, there would be heroes who were slain before completing their God given mandate, which resulted in them given the ability to come back and finish said job."

"Yeah, but that's folklore. Stories, fairytales. There is nothing about this world that involves fairytales." Port says, brushing off the explanation.

"And nothing in this world can explain the dead coming back to life, yet here we are. Hanging around in the kitchen of a man who was playing with his daughter a while ago, a daughter that, as of a few days beforehand, was inside a coffin buried six feet underground. Maybe our world is wrong Peter, this wouldn't be the first time humanity as a whole accepted a falsehood as fact. I promise you that."

After Oobleck's comments, everyone just got to the table and sat around it in silence. Letting everything talked about now and everything that has happened recently soak in. Minutes go by in complete stillness. Finally, Taiyang poses one final question to his doctor friend.

"You said that in those stories, the person comes back because their story wasn't finished. What story is my daughter a hero of that she has been brought back from the death?"

* * *

Author's Note: Hey everyone, guess who isn't dead? That's right, this guy isn't. Luckily. Won't go into details about why this hasn't been updated for so long, let's just say I wasn't in a mood to write and that same mood led to some not good things which delayed this _even more._ Originally, I was going to add a third scene into this chapter this but I have chosen that you guys have waited long enough for a second chapter so that has now become chapter 3. Hooray.

Anyways, there has been a large gap between when I first wrote this and when I finished it and I'm sure the quality will make it clear when the gap happened so feel free to roast me for any quality drops and put it out! Seriously, this won't get any better if you stay silent about any issues or errors, use that review function damnit. Until then, this is Wolfie telling you that I'm going to try my best to not make the next gap in between chapters be this big.

Thanks you for reading the Impossible Kid, and I hope you continue to do so.


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